Suit Seeks Access to Mobil Papers

Attorneys representing three environmental groups and two Torrance residents filed legal motions Wednesday asking for access to 66,000 pages of Mobil Oil Corp. documents turned over to the city of Torrance last year.

The action, by attorneys from Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, comes less than a week after a court hearing on a similar petition by the Los Angeles Times and The Daily Breeze.

The newspapers filed their petition last month seeking access to the material as part of their coverage of problems at Mobil Oil’s Torrance refinery. A decision is pending.

Mobil turned the material over to the city after Torrance filed a public-nuisance lawsuit in April, 1989, prompted by a series of accidents, deaths and injuries at the plant that raised concerns about the refinery’s impact on public health and safety. Mobil released the 66,000 pages to the city’s attorneys as part of Torrance’s pretrial research.

The city later settled the case in return for Mobil’s agreement to phase out its use of deadly hydrofluoric acid over the next seven years under court supervision.

The lawyers’ group--which said it is acting on behalf of Friends of the Earth, the California Public Interest Research Group, the Environmental Action Foundation and Torrance residents Terry Reid and William J. Christenson--said its clients want the discovery documents to see for themselves that the refinery is being operated safely.

The attorneys contend that the documents should be a matter of public record because they reveal information about the use and dangers of hazardous materials in the community and about steps being taken to protect residents.

A hearing on the group’s motion has been tentatively set for March 28 in Torrance Superior Court.